This sermon emphasizes the importance of maintaining a pure testimony for God, distinguishing between a large testimony like Babylon and a pure testimony like Jerusalem. It highlights the need for wholehearted dedication over relying on gifts or resources, urging believers to prioritize character over external success. The speaker stresses the significance of surrendering to God's will, leading a life of righteousness, and guiding one's family in the ways of the Lord to experience God's promises and blessings.

We have been seeing in these days that God is not looking for a large testimony but a pure testimony. I believe this is one of the biggest mistakes that Christendom has made. The difference between large and pure is the difference between Babylon and Jerusalem. Now I've preached that for 35 years but I find many people don't understand it. In the book of Revelation, Babylon is called the great city. Great, huge, big, 11 times. Jerusalem is called the holy city. Know the difference between a great city and a holy city? That's the difference between Babylon and Jerusalem. That's the difference between a Babylonian church and a Jerusalem church. To build a great city, you need gifts. You need eloquence. You need great men. You need great preachers. You need good music. You need a lot of money. But to build a pure church, you need people who are wholehearted. They don't need money. Even without money you can build Jerusalem. You can't build Babylon without money. You can build Jerusalem without any music. 3,000 people were converted on the day of Pentecost without any music. It's a great deception today to think that you require music to lead people to Christ. It says, before they went to the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn. They didn't have any instruments. I would have loved to have been there without any instruments. Jesus is leading that scene. There is so much of deception in Christendom today. The number one reason for this deception is they don't read the Bible slowly. They don't have a clue that the Old Covenant has been abolished and there's a new covenant established. There was one truth I would like to travel all over Christendom preaching. Dear brothers, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. The Old Covenant has been abolished. Don't live by Deuteronomy 28. Live by Romans chapter 6, Romans chapter 8. These are Romans chapter 12. These are the chapters we must live by today. But, like Jesus said in his lifetime, they have years, but they will not hear. Because their heart goes after their greediness and their covetousness. The Lord told Ezekiel, you are like a person playing a nice instrument whom they would like to listen to, but they're not going to listen to you. The Lord said to Ezekiel these words, and I want to turn to it in chapter 33. You know, he was speaking to Israel in Babylon. I told you that books like Jeremiah and Ezekiel are tremendous messages for today's Christians. Ezekiel 33, verse 30. I have felt like this many times. Ezekiel 33, verse 30. As for you, son of man, I'm reading you the message Bible. You've become quite the talk of the town. Your people meet on the street corners in front of their houses, and in a mocking way they say, let's go and hear the latest news from God. And they show up, as people tend to do, and sit in your company. They listen to you speak, but they won't do a single thing that you say. They flatter you with their compliments. Ezekiel 33, verse 30. So, the people talk about you in their houses and speak to one another, saying, hey, let's go and listen. What's the message that's come forth from the Lord? They'll come to you as my people, sit down, but they're not going to hear, they're not going to do one single thing that you say, because all that they care about, verse 31, is making money and getting on in this world. All that they care about is making money and getting ahead in this world. And to them, you are merely entertainment. A country singer who sings sad love songs, playing a guitar, they love to hear you talk, but nothing comes of it. But when all this happens, and it's going to happen, they will one day realize that they had a prophet among them. So, the church is not here to convert the world. We're not here to convert India. I don't believe the whole of India will ever be converted, because there are few, Jesus said, who will find the way to life, and he knew better than you and me. We can have desires, but God wants all men to repent. He wants all men to come to the knowledge of the truth. Even in Noah's day, I believe that if there was a big rush of thousands of people who wanted to get into the ark, God would have said, Okay, Noah, I'll change the dimensions of the ark, make it bigger. But God knew there's not going to be a big rush for the ark. Have you ever thought why God gave Noah just those dimensions for the ark? Imagine if 100,000 people wanted to get in. God knew it wouldn't be 100,000. God knew it would be only eight. That's why he gave those dimensions. He said the animals have got more sense than these people. They'll come, but not people. Many times God said to his prophets, These animals have got more sense than human beings. The ox knows his master, but my people don't know my master. Noah is called a preacher of righteousness. The last days will be like the days of Noah. And he was a witness right up until the end, 120 years he preached the truth. He was like a burning bush in his time. God in his midst. The people knew he was with God. They called him crazy, all that, but God was with him. And the church is to be like that, dear brothers. It's very, very important that none of you elders ever get excited when people come and join. Make sure they are disciples. If they are not disciples, I can give it to you in writing. There'll be a pain in your neck. They'll create problems in your church. And you will be responsible for allowing them, every Tom, Dick and Harry to come and join. When Jesus said go and make disciples, you were just interested in making your congregation larger and excited when more people came. Remember all your life, Babylon is a great city. Jerusalem is a holy city. And if you study church history, all the great movements that came throughout history through great men of God whom God raised up, whether it's the Salvation Army or the Methodist Church, or different groups that God raised up, the founders were very godly men. Almost all of them, the founders were very godly men. The early leaders, one or two leaders, were very godly men. They knew God. And usually they were very poor. They were not rich. And they had a vision from God. They knew God and they knew how to build a church. And then came another generation which knew the doctrine but did not know God. The founders knew God. The followers knew the doctrine. And the result was the followers were excited when numbers started increasing. Hey, we were unpopular for so long. Now we're getting a little popular. That's when you've got to be scared. You don't have to be so scared when you're rejected, despised, unpopular. You've got to be scared when you're getting a little more popular and accepted and people join you because you've got a reputation. Because then comes the time when all types of people come in who spoil your testimony. People wonder why we don't allow visitors and unbelievers to come to a conference like this. What will happen? The people, you know, we hire these premises and the people who loan us these premises don't know who is part of CFC and who is not. Some visitor comes along and gets upset with something and goes and yells at them. Who gets the bad testimony? We. But we don't want to be a bad testimony. That's why we don't allow visitors. In spite of them, some people come sneaking in because the elders don't vex or don't test out whom they are sending. They say, ah, let them come along, let them hear the gospel. And because of you elders are foolish, you get a bad testimony for us here. That's why I say we've got to be careful. Some of us think we have more wisdom than the elders who plan these things. But you can ruin the whole testimony of CFC by allowing somebody to come here who is not really a wholehearted believer. We're not here for outreach. We're not here to convert people. That you've got to do in your local church. We're here to consolidate people and say we want to be a burning, shining light here for the Lord. We want everywhere we go, when we have a conference like this, everybody must know we're different. So it's good to humble ourselves and accept the admonition of the elders in these cases. But you know, people are slow to learn a lesson. Charles Sinney used to say, unless you tell a person something 10 times, they don't hear it. Because they are so proud, they think they know better than those who are preaching to them. In many, many areas I find that. Dear brothers and sisters, it's good if you have godly elders, they have some wisdom and they take some decisions. And it's good for you to know that. What is our aim? God wants the whole world to be saved. But they have to pay a price. We believe in preaching. The Bible says in Philippians 2.14, do all things without murmuring and grumbling. We believe it must be like that. All things. If I have to die, I die. If I have to die of a stomach upset, I'll die. But I will not murmur or complain. Impossible. That's my belief. And I won't blame anybody else. Because I believe I live under the sovereign rule of a father. And the Bible says in Zechariah 2.5 and 8, that he'll be a wall of fire on about me and anybody who touches me is touching the apple of God's eye. I am the apple of God's eye. Have you ever tried touching the apple of your eye? Don't try it. I'm just saying that sometimes we accidentally do it. But it hurts. The most sensitive part of our body is the apple of our eye. And so I am the apple of God's eye. You can also be if you believe it. But you've got to be wholehearted. And so if some bug or germ or bacteria touches me, they're touching the apple of God's eye. I believe that. I resist it and curse it in Jesus' name. Dear brothers and sisters, be wholehearted. Let me give you a word concerning our physical body and healing. Because that's a very important thing that I know many times I've thought of. Poor people in our country, in our villages, they go to a hospital and they charge them 10,000 rupees just to stay there in the hospital for 2-3 days and afterwards say everything's okay with you. To hear that everything's okay with you, they spend 10,000 rupees. This test, that test, blood test, scan, x-ray. And I have sometimes gone before God and wept and said, Lord, what will you do for the poor people in our country? They don't have 10,000 rupees. They earn 10,000 rupees in a whole year. How in the world can they go to a hospital? In Jesus' name. I want to share something with you that I have sought to live by for many years in this matter of the human body. Because it's very important. We live in a world where there's the flu, there's all types of things and I know I travel around to all types of places, eat all types of food and go to all types of places, here, there, everywhere. I really need God to give me strength in my body and health in my body otherwise I would have died long ago. I want you to ask me a lot. I want you to listen very carefully and read slowly, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Because this is very practical. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Does God take care of His temple? Let me ask you, do you take care of a house that you build? Supposing you have spent a hundred million rupees, a hundred million rupees to build a house, will you take care of it? You sure will. Do you know how much God paid to get my body? Do you know how much He paid? The blood of Jesus Christ. Tell me how much that's worth. Will He take care of His temple? I believe He will. Whether through medicine, surgery, anyway, but He'll do it. Okay. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 12. All things are lawful for me, but all things are not profitable. There are two levels at which you can live the Christian life. One is to ask, is this permitted? You're like the person who's living on the edge of the cliff. Supposing there's a cliff there and you build your house just on the edge of the cliff so that your children can play near the edge of the cliff. You lose some of your children one day. I will not build my house on the edge of the cliff. That's to say, what is lawful? Oh, I haven't fallen over. I haven't fallen over. I'm talking about how far can I go to the edge of the cliff? It's like little children on a railway platform saying, how close can I stand to the edge of the platform when the train comes whizzing by? These are games for children. A sensible person will stand a distance from the train when the train is coming by on a platform. So I'm not interested in saying, which movies? Can I watch this one? This is PG-13. This is R. This is lawful. If it is doubtful, it's dirty. If it's doubtful, it's dirty. You've got to be absolutely sure in your heart, this is lawful, but here's what's profitable. If you want to be a burning bush for God, determine one thing in your life that you will never live by the principle of, is it lawful? But is it profitable? It's the one who lives by the principle of, these are the things that are profitable that's going to hear from Jesus in the final day, well done, good and faithful servant. Those who live by, is it lawful, is it lawful, may get to heaven and the Lord will say, oh, you finally made it, did you? I don't want to hear that. What do you want to hear from God? All things are lawful, but I will not be mastered by anything. See, it's a very important principle that I'm talking about the human body now. There are two areas where we have to be very, very careful in the human body. One is being mastered by food and the other is being mastered by sexual desire. I'm telling you how I try to keep my body. I will not be mastered by anything. It's lawful, yes, but I will not become a slave. Food, now he speaks about food and sex in the next verses, and you can see it's not my idea, it's here in scripture. Food is for the stomach, the stomach is for food, but one day God will destroy both of them. A day is coming where there will be no stomach and no food in the new heavenly body. But, yet the body is not for immorality, that's the second thing he speaks about. Food and immorality, the body must not be given to immorality. The eyes or anything in the body must not be given for immorality, but for the Lord. And when I give my body for the Lord, look at this promise, the Lord is for my body. That is the promise I have taken for years. I said, Lord, what shall I do with this body? I'm not going to use this body just to enjoy good food, I'm not going to use this body for immorality, I'm not going to use this body to get honor for myself, I'm going to use this body 100% for you. The Lord says, I will be 100% for your body. Isn't that a wonderful promise? Is that in scripture or not? Do you believe this is the word of God? I have proved it for years. The body is for the Lord and the Lord is for the body. I believe that. Many a times when I've traveled 16 hours at night in a bus on a bumpy road to go to some conference in some village down in Tamil Nadu, I mean, my body is like yours. You shake, you can hardly go to sleep because the roads are so bumpy and you have all these cars and all types of things whizzing past you and all that. The best thing is to shut your eyes and trust God. You reach the other end after 16 hours and go straight into a meeting and have four meetings a day and go on for three days like that. You can't do it unless the Lord is for your body. I believe all of us must be a living testimony to the fact my body is for the Lord and the Lord is for my body. It's in scripture. Don't you want, you know, one of the things I prayed is I said, Lord, every promise in scripture in the New Testament I wanted in my life. Supposing your dad was a billionaire and died and left 10 houses as an inheritance for you. Will you occupy only one of those houses? Yeah, let anybody take the other nine. Let some crooked lawyer take the other nine. Let some crooks go and occupy the other nine. We will never do it because we are lovers of money. We are lovers of good houses. What about an inheritance that Jesus purchased for us on the cross? Why do we let the devil take away 90% of it? I want to ask you my brothers and sisters. How many of you will pray this prayer? Lord, every promise you made for the church in the New Testament, I want to experience it before I die. If you haven't prayed that prayer, pray it now. I'm not talking about the Old Testament of a lot of money and all that. I'm talking about New Testament promises which are all yes in Christ. So here is my promise. Don't be taken up with food and don't be taken up with immorality. The body is for the Lord. Now you keep watching internet pornography and you say, oh Lord, heal me. Why should he heal you? What should I pray for you? Oh Lord, this brother is so sick now he can't sit and click on those pornographic sites. Please raise him up so that he can sit healthily at the computer table and watch the pornographic sites. Is that why I should pray for you? Lord, this brother is so sick now he has no opportunity for lusting after all the women on the street. Please raise him up so that he can walk along the street and lust after the women again. Why do you ask for healing? The body is not for immorality. The body is not for just eating and eating and eating. Do you know there is a close connection between overeating and excessive sexual desire? Turn for a moment to Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16. When you think about sodom, it's become a word in the English language. Sodomizing people. It's talking about homosexuality. And the people in Sodom were renowned for that. God destroyed that whole city by fire for their homosexuality. It says here the reason why what was the sin of Sodom. It's very important to understand. When we think of the guilt of Sodom, we immediately think of homosexuality. But see what God says in Ezekiel 16, verse 48. As I live, declares the Lord God, Sodom your sister have done, not done as you have done. Behold, verse 49. This was the guilt of your sister Sodom. And interesting thing, he doesn't even mention homosexuality there. Notice this. What is the guilt of your sister Sodom? Arrogance. Pride. I'm smart. I'm clever. I'm rich. I'm spiritual. Abundant food. Plenty to eat and eat and eat and eat. There were gluttons. No wonder they became homosexual. Abundant food and careless ease. Lazy lifestyle. Sleep. Don't get up in time. Sleep. No time to read the Bible. Watch television until you get groggy and go to sleep. That's Sodom. No wonder they had problems in the sexual area. Careless ease. And another thing, when there were poor and needy people around, they did not help them. Why couldn't they help them? Because they had to spend it on food for themselves. They had to spend it on careless ease. And they didn't care for the poor and needy. No wonder God condemned them to homosexuality and burnt up their city. Why isn't homosexuality mentioned here? The Lord is dealing with the root cause of the problem. The problem came up and the root cause was abundance of food and careless ease lifestyle and arrogance and pride and not caring for the poor and the needy. So I tell people, when you want to overcome sexual sin, you have a tremendous problem with the lust of your eyes and sexual desire which is uncontrollable. Shall I tell you where to start? First of all, humble yourself. You are too proud. You see, what's the connection between pride and sexual desire? Very close connection. Second, you eat too much. You have a tremendous You've got to get rid of your love for food first if you want to control your eyes. And you've got too much of a lazy lifestyle. No discipline in other areas of your life. Plenty of food, plenty of money, all to spend on yourself and you don't care for the poor and the needy. Well, then you deserve to be defeated by sex all your life. There's a way out of there if you want to take it. The Bible says, God will never allow us to be tempted beyond our ability but will make a way of escape. And I show you the way of escape and you say, no, I don't want that. Then, live with your immorality and your sin and keep on, like they say, confess my hope. One day, I will get victory. You'll be 75 years old still lusting after women. One day, I will get victory. It will never come because you never took the way of escape. God showed you. Get rid of your pride. Get rid of your gluttony. Get rid of your careless lifestyle. Care for the poor. And you'll suddenly find victory in the areas where you've been struggling for so long. The body is not for immorality but for the Lord. And the Lord is for the body. That's one promise. Second, back to 1 Corinthians 6. Verse 15. There are three things mentioned about the body here which I want you to see. And all are dependent on this. That my body is for the Lord. It's not for food or immorality. We eat in order to live. We don't live in order to eat. Did you hear that? We eat in order to live. We don't live in order to eat. The world lives in order to eat. We eat in order to live. And if you are a person who always loves the best type of food, don't be surprised if you are defeated by sex even when you are 80 years old. You've got only yourself to blame. You will never be the man of God that God wants you to be. Never. You'll never build a home or the church God wants you to build. Take it seriously. God wants a witness for him in this generation and this age. You'll say, I've denied myself this, denied myself that, denied myself this, denied all this. I say yes, and some more also. We'll tell you about that later. But, I will also tell you this. It'll be worth it all when we see Jesus. It'll be worth it all when we see Jesus. One look from his dear face, all self-denial and the thought of it, I'll forget about. Dear brothers and sisters, it's worth it all. I don't have to wait till I see Jesus. Today I can say it's worth it. It's worth it. I have never made a sacrifice in my life but that the Lord has given me a hundred times better things in return. He tests you. Will you deny this one little thing? Oh God, it's so difficult to deny. Okay, don't deny it. You don't know what you've missed. You were going to get something a hundred times greater, but you missed it. It's like that parable that I think I read it in C.S. Lewis' book about a man with his ugly chameleon or ugly gecko lizard sitting on his shoulder. You know, it's a picture of some dirty lust and there was this angel standing before him saying, shall I take this away? And as soon as he says, this lizard says, no, no, no, no. We are good friends, remember? I won't trouble you again. I promise you I won't trouble you. Don't let him take me away from you. And this man is torn between the desire to listen to what God is saying and what his lust is saying. And he tells the angel, why don't you just pull it off? The angel says, no, I can never do that without your permission. I will never force you. If you permit me, I'll take it off. But if you don't permit, it's your choice. And this chap is torn between the desire. Do you understand that? You've experienced that in your life? The desire to please God and this lust here. Finally, he shuts his eyes and tells the angel, okay, take it off. And the angel pulls it out and the claws of that lizard are in his flesh, tear his flesh. It's a very painful experience. Tears and the blood is flowing and the angel throws that lizard down to the ground and suddenly it gets transformed into a big white horse. And the angel says, now you don't have to walk. You can ride this horse and go much faster in your Christian life than you could until now. And that man says, boy, I wish I had done this earlier. What I missed all these years. When are you going to do that? When you're 80 years old? Or when you're 18 years old? When do you want to start riding on a horse? When do you want to get rid of this ugly lizard who says, I'll behave myself and I'll help you and all that? Dear brothers and sisters, be wise. The second promise is, verse 15. The first promise is, my body, the Lord is for my body. It's a promise. The second, verse 15. My body is a member of Jesus Christ. My body is a member of Jesus Christ. I thank God for that. My body is a member of Christ. I don't have any right. See, for example, you cannot make my hand move. You can make your hand move, but you can't make my hand move. Only my head can make my hand move. That's the meaning of, my body is a member of Christ. My body, my physical body is a member of Jesus Christ, the head. He tells me what to do. That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, I discipline myself and I tell my body to do what it should do, not what it wants to do. It's a beautiful translation in the Living Bible, 1 Corinthians 9, 27. I make my body do what it should do, not what it wants to do. So one, the body, the Lord is for my body. The second, my body is a member of Christ. And the third promise is, in verse 19, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. I have claimed these promises for my body for many, many years. Lord, I never want to use any part of my body to make money or to live myself. I want to earn my living. I don't want to be a beggar dependent on others. I want to earn my living. But my goal in life is not to make money. My goal in life is not to get honor for this body. My goal in life is this body will be used for the Lord completely. And, therefore, I claim, according to your word, unless God's word is a lie and I throw it away. If I throw it away, then I don't even know whether Christ died for my sins. Because the same book tells me Christ died for my sins. I never saw Christ die for my sins. I believe it because it's written in the book. But the same book tells me that the Lord is my body. How can I be selective? Ah, this is right, that is wrong. No, I take the whole thing. And the whole thing works. Lord, number one, you are for my body. Number two, my body is a member of you, Jesus Christ, Lord of heaven and earth. And number three, my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Lord, take care of your temple. We must be bold in our faith. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you don't ask in faith. You ask wondering whether your father in heaven is a person who delights to see you suffer, delights to see you tortured by the devil. By the way, there are some people whom the father will allow the devil to torture. And those are those who have not forgiven others. I don't have time to show it to you. Matthew 18, Jesus said, there was a man who was forgiven 10,000 talents, maybe a hundred million rupees. And some other brother of his owed him a hundred rupees. He called him by the throat and said, pay back your hundred rupees. And the king heard him and said, come back here. I forgave you a hundred million rupees and you couldn't forgive that guy a hundred rupees? Come back here. You've got to pay back the whole amount. Do you know there's such a thing in the Christian life as being unforgiven? Forgiven we know. We confess our sins, he's faithful to forgive us our sins. All hundred million sins are blotted out. Then we go out and don't forgive somebody else for what he did. God calls us back and say, all those hundred million sins which I blotted out are put back into your account. And now I'm going to hand you over to the torturers. That's the word in Matthew 18 towards the end of that verse. Torturers. And they're going to torture you. They're going to make you sick. They're going to give you arthritis and migraine and every imaginable thing because you will not forgive that person. A loving father. Like I told you the other day, if your children go astray, pray that they'll have a car accident and break their bones. God is a loving father. I'm a loving father too. I tell you God is my witness that if my children go and serve the devil, I'll pray that God will break their bones in a car accident or something. See, we're not radical. We play the fool. We think, oh, physical health is more important than spiritual sickness. It's not. Sin is a million times worse than AIDS. I would rather get AIDS than live defeated by anger. How many of you will say that? Many of you have a problem with anger. Will you stand before God today and say, Lord, I would rather get AIDS than live defeated by my anger. Believe me, you'll get victory over your anger pretty soon. You say, oh, brother, my father had it, my grandfather had it, but you don't have to have it. They were not serious about their sin. The fundamental problem with many, many believers is they're not serious about their sin. They like these concepts of a burning bush and all that, but do you know what a burning bush does? It gets rid of every bug and bacteria in the whole thing. Okay, in the Old Testament tabernacle, we read that the fire was on the tabernacle the whole time. That was the mark of God's presence. That tabernacle is a picture of my body. I want the glory of God upon me all the time. You have to have a passion for it. The Lord says, you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. When you take little sins seriously, you hurt somebody, you'll immediately go and confess it to your wife. I'm sorry, that sentence I spoke to you five seconds ago. Five seconds ago, not five days ago. That sentence I spoke to you five seconds ago I'm sorry darling, it was a little hard. Please forgive me, I'm sorry. You do that and I'll tell you you'll get victory like that. Do you know how Jesus got victory? He was tempted like us. He was made like us. Now I'll show you the secret. Hebrews, Chapter 5. Hebrews, in Chapter 5, we read that Jesus was tempted like us in Chapter 4, Verse 15. Tempted like us in all points. Hebrews 4, Verse 15. Yet, never sinning once. Earlier on, we were told in Chapter 2, Verse 17 that he was made like us in everything. I believe the Bible when it says made like his brothers in all things. Some people say not all things. Well, I'll tell you this. If the Bible does not mean all, all, then I would say when the Bible says he's forgiven all my sins, I don't know whether all means all. Maybe he's forgiven only 50% of my sins. But the good news is all means all. When he says he's forgiven all my sins, it means all my sins. When it says God makes all things work together for my good, I believe all. And when it says he was made in all things like his brothers, Hebrews 2, Verse 17, it means the same all. And when it says in Hebrews 4, Verse 15, that he was tempted in all things as we are, I believe all again. All means the same thing in every verse in the Bible. Why do we pick and choose? All means all my sins are forgiven, but all does not mean he was made like me in all things. All does not mean that he was tempted like me in all things. Brother, you are arrogant to try and question God about his word. If you don't believe it's his word, throw it away. But if you believe it's his word, pick on proclaiming it's a big good. And some of you who like the King James Version, go and read theirs. It's the same thing. But how did he get it? Now listen. This is how he got it. Here's the secret. Just a few verses down. Chapter 5, Verse 7. In the days of his flesh, now some people don't read carefully. They think that means the last day of his flesh in Gethsemane. No. In the days of his flesh means all 33 and a half years. In the days of his flesh he prayed. And supplication means specific request. Not just a general prayer. Specific. You know, pointed. Prayer and specific prayer. How did he pray? With loud crying and tears. To the only one. To the only one who was able to save him from death. And he was heard. He was heard. That means he was saved from death. Was Jesus saved from death? Many people have struggled with that verse and twisted it and added it. And they add saying he prayed that he would be saved from death prematurely. That he would not die in Gethsemane. It's all rubbish. Don't add to scripture. When it says he was saved from death, he prayed that he would be saved from death. And when it says he was heard, he was heard. He was saved from death. But the thing is, because we love our bodies so much, whenever you read about death, you only think of physical death. But a spiritual man, when he reads about death, he immediately thinks of spiritual death first. So when you read that verse and you think of physical death first, it's because we are human. We walk like other men. You talk to a human being in the world about death, he can only think of physical death. You talk to a really spiritual man about death, he thinks about spiritual death first. He's not afraid of physical death. But he's really afraid of spiritual death. The worldly person is afraid of physical death. And I believe for myself anyway, I say this, if I'm more afraid of physical death than spiritual death, I'm a thoroughly worldly person. Even if I dress modestly and don't have television and all that, I'm a thoroughly worldly person if I'm more scared of physical death than spiritual death. And I want to say that to all of you, all of you sitting here, who are more afraid of physical death than spiritual death, brother, let me tell you, you are a thoroughly worldly person. If you're more afraid of your children dying physically than dying spiritually, you are a thoroughly worldly person. I tell you, when it comes to our children, we are really tested. What are you afraid for your children? That they will die spiritually or die physically? We think we are radical Christians. We're not! If we are radical Christians, we'd be more afraid of spiritual death in our children than physical death. We'd grieve supposing the doctor said to you, your son, all hope is lost. He may only have one week to live. That would really wake you up. You'd fast and pray. But what if your child is going astray into the world? You don't fast and pray. You are a worldly person, even if you're an elder of a church. You are scared of physical death for your children but not spiritual death. You know, we play the fool with God too much. We think we are so much better than all those other dead Christians in other denominations. We're not. We are if we hate spiritual death more than physical death. So when I read the scripture, he prayed that he might be saved from death, it immediately comes to me, of course, he prayed to be saved from spiritual death. The Bible is written for spiritual people, not for worldly people. And immediately the thought that comes to a spiritual man is he wanted to be saved from spiritual death and he was heard. Right! He never touched spiritual death even for one second in his whole life. He was heard. What is spiritual death? James describes it. When lust conceives, it brings forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Spiritual death. In the day that you disobey me, God told Adam, you will die. Did he die physically? Not till 930 years later. In one sense, in the same day, because one day is when the Lord is a thousand years, it was true physically too. But spiritually, in that moment, he died in that day, that very moment. That is the death which Adam got as soon as he ate the fruit. But Jesus prayed that he would never go fall into it. Why should he pray? Because he was here on earth as a man. This is the truth that changed my life. The baptism in the Holy Spirit and the truth that Jesus was tempted exactly like me and never sinned. I can say these two truths changed my whole life about 35 years ago. The baptism in the Holy Spirit will continuously fill the Holy Spirit. If you have only one of these truths, you can become a legalist. But if you have both these truths, you will be a spiritual man. I don't mean if you understand it. If you have gripped by it in your heart that my Savior was tempted. You know, I remember in my younger days when I was tempted severely, I used to think, Lord Jesus, you were also tempted when you were in Nazareth exactly like I am being tempted now and you didn't sin. I want to follow you. I don't want to just sing it in the Sunday morning service. I want to follow you right now. Because right now is when I'm being tempted. Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday night. Lord, you were tempted like this in Nazareth. What did you do? And I see here he prayed with loud crying and tears. Now, I'll tell you something. That's one reason Jesus used to go into the wilderness. Because there he could pray with loud crying and tears and not disturb anybody. But I said, Lord, it's very difficult to find a wilderness in Bangalore. You've got to go a long distance nowadays in a country with one billion population to find a wilderness. And the Lord showed me that you don't have to physically make a sound. You can cry aloud with tears in your heart without any sound coming out of your mouth. That's a great technique. I would encourage you to develop it. To cry aloud in your heart and just mouth is shut. You don't disturb the person sleeping next to you. I've done it many a times when I'm on my bed at night crying aloud. My wife doesn't hear it. In my heart, the tears may fall on the pillow, but what am I crying for? Lord, I want a victory over my anger. I want a victory over all lust. I want freedom from the love of money. I want to be more compassionate. I've never prayed. I've never in my life prayed that I'd get a better scooter or a better car or a better house or a bigger church. No, I don't pray for all these things. Lord, I want to be like Jesus. In one little area, I slipped up one day. I was not like Jesus in some thought or word. I go before God and I cry out to Him. And over a period of time, over a period of time, God sees that I'm in business with Him. I said, Lord, I want to be in a good mood 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Anybody, anything goes right or wrong, I want to believe that God is on the throne. I want to live like that. I want to prove to this world that the word of God is true, that sin will not have dominion over me. And there are areas where I discover later on that something, two years ago, I didn't know it was sin. Now I know it's sin. And God doesn't condemn me because I didn't know it. Now I know it. Now this area also I have to get victory. And so life is an interesting progression. My life is exciting. I love that translation of Proverbs 14, 14 in the Living Bible. That godly man's life is exciting. It's wonderful. To dwell, you know, there's a verse in Isaiah 33 which says about dwelling continuously in this, the constant burning of God. If you are not familiar with that verse, it says, let me show you, I think it's Isaiah 33, verse 14. It talks about sinners who are sitting in the church. Yeah, there can be sinners sitting in the church. Those are the people who don't take sin seriously. They are terrified. You know what I believe? That if I'm a true servant of God, standing as God's representative in the pulpit, every sinner who sits in my congregation will be terrified. If they are not terrified, I'm not speaking properly. And trembling has seized the hypocrites. That's how it says in the King James Version. The hypocrite should tremble. Preaching is to disturb those who are comfortable and to comfort those who are disturbed. So I say, Lord, make my preaching such that it will disturb all those who are comfortable and comfort all those who are disturbed. Pray that you will also preach like that. That the sinners will be terrified and the hypocrites will tremble. But those who want to live with the consuming fire and who want to live with continual burnings, they'll be happy. Are there some people here who want to live continuously in this fire? Everything is burnt out. Who want to be righteous and speak with sincerity, verse 15. Who want to reject all unjust gain and won't take any bribes and stop listening with their ears to gossip, gossip, gossip. They want to hear it. Shut their eyes from looking at evil. Oh, such a man will dwell on the heights. His bread and water will definitely be given to him. He will see the king in his beauty. And yes, he will be a servant of God. So dear brothers and sisters, I want to say a little more about the necessity of preserving our home as a burning bush as well. The Bible says in 1 Timothy in chapter 3, these words. 1 Timothy in chapter 3 speaks about the qualifications of an elder and we have tried to follow that very strictly in all of our churches in all these years. A man who has one of the qualifications is, verse 4, he must be one who manages his own family well. Keeping his children under control with all dignity. Why? Because if a man cannot take care of three, four children in his own home, how can he take care of a hundred people in a church? That's the meaning. So from that verse we learn that the foundation for your church ministry is your home. And that's why the devil targets individuals, he targets their homes so that he can destroy their church. Watch over your home. Bring up your children in the fear of God. Teach them to honor their parents. To obey their parents when they're at home. Teach them to speak respectfully to older people. Very, very important. I'm sorry to say some parents do not teach their children to speak respectfully to older people. I remember seeing one such boy in this church years ago. The way he was despising his father. Small boy, the way he talked to his father. And I called the father and I said, you be careful. That boy will grow up to be a pain in your neck if you don't control him. I'm sorry to say, sure enough he became a pain in the neck. But he wouldn't listen to me. I've often told people, brother, I cannot stop you from backsliding. But if I'm your elder, I will sense that something is going wrong and I'll warn you at least three months before you fall away. Whether you listen to me or not, that's up to you. Even God Almighty can't force anybody to listen to him. He doesn't. I won't. But he warns us. I've gone up to people and said, hey, I feel something wrong with you. I don't know what it is. God doesn't reveal anybody's sin to me. But I sense, when I see, I can look in a person's eyes and say, something's wrong. I don't know what it is. I don't want to know his sin. I'm not a priest or something for people to confess their sins to me. But you sense something is wrong. You parents, you must be very sensitive. When you see something wrong in your children, you must pull them up and say, hey, be different then. Put your arm around them and say, are you struggling with something? Can I help you? Love them. God loves sinners. He loved us. But that arm around that child will encourage that child to confide in you because he wants to be free from sin. I'm sorry to say, so many parents in India are so distant from their children. I want to ask you fathers, when was the last time you put your arm around your child? You mothers, when was the last time you put your arm around your child? You correct them, rebuke them, encourage them. They're struggling. Don't you remember the struggles you had as a teenager? Love them. Bring them under control with all dignity. Then God will give you a ministry in the church. Your home must be like a burning bush. The devil will first seek to attack a person. If he can't attack him, he'll attack his home because his ultimate purpose is to destroy his ministry. But a lot of people we find in many countries today the man has fallen into sin. And he doesn't give up his ministry because his ministry is based on his gift, not his character. So he says, okay, six months, I'll just stay awake and then start again on his ministry and he falls again. And there are some people a little better than that. They won't, if they fall away themselves, they'll stop their ministry. But when their children are wayward, they say, oh, it doesn't matter. I've got a gift. Brother, you can't serve God with your gift. You'll build Babylon. You're going to have a character in your life. If you can't control your children at home, what in the world are you going to do building a church? You'll never build a church. You'll build a church just like the home you built. Very, very important. When Noah went into the ark, all his children were with him in the ark and their wives were with him too. He made sure that his children married godly wives. He didn't allow his children to marry any old woman. They wouldn't have gone to New York then. He wanted his children. What about Lot? Lot allowed his daughters to marry whom they liked. You know, this business of, we give our children freedom. Brother, then don't be a servant of God. Go and live, go and be a worldly businessman or something. What do you mean give your children freedom? God gave you responsibility to guide your children, advise your children. Don't follow this modern trend. You know what happened to Levi? He heard that his children are committing adultery and he calls them and says, dear boys, you know, that's not a good thing. Ha! You think anybody will listen to a father who talks like that? Dear boys, you know that committing adultery with these women in the temple is not a good thing. God said, you honored your children more than me. Nobody from your tribe will ever be a servant of God again. It's true. On the other hand, when God blesses a man, he says, my spirit, he told Isaiah, my spirit will be on your children and your grandchildren. You know, there's a prophecy like that. Isaiah had a wife who was a prophetess. God told him even what to name his children. And when they had children, God said to him, my spirit will be upon your children and your grandchildren. I tell you, it's worth it being righteous. It's worth it being a burning bush. It's worth it disciplining ourselves in gluttony and sex and all that. It's worth it humbling ourselves. It's worth it caring for the poor because God will bless your children. God will bless your grandchildren. You can't bless them with money. A lot of people with money will give a lot of money to their children and just ruin them. I'm not saying you shouldn't give money. The Bible says, fathers must lay up for their children and it's good for fathers to lay up for their children. And a book of Proverbs says, a good man laid gives an inheritance even to his grandchildren. That's fine. But don't do that if you don't lead them to godliness. I plead with you young married couples. Please, give an inheritance to your children of godliness. Teach them to reverence God. Teach them to respect you as parents. Teach them to respect older brothers and sisters in the church. And to respect even, I mean, God's taught me even to respect younger people and to speak respectfully to beggars and poor people. Never to despise anybody. Don't let your children make fun of people laughing and despising them. Be very, very careful in these areas. Let's build godly homes but like a burning bush. One last verse. Genesis chapter 18. Abraham was a man about whom we read even a heathen king once came to him in Genesis 20 and said we have seen that God is with you. But turn to Genesis 18 and see what God says. Genesis 18. Why did God choose Abraham? Do you know the answer? You say it was to raise the nation of Israel. That was reason number 2. Let me tell you reason number 1. Genesis 18, 19. I have chosen Abraham says the Lord so that he may command his children and his family after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice because only then will I be able to bring upon Abraham all that I promised him. There are wonderful things God has promised you and me but he'll be able to bring that about when you command your children. Not when you give suggestions. Oh darling, don't do that. Please come home in time. Oh sons, don't play the fool like that. No! Command them. I'm your father and as long as you live in this house I'm going to tell you what you're going to do. Abraham did that. You see the result of it years later when he's carrying the when Isaac is carrying the wood and they place it on the altar. God says Abraham is a 125 years old weak man. Isaac is a strong muscular 25 year old man. Abraham says son, lie down on that. I'm going to kill you. Which 25 year old boy young man will listen to his father when he says lie down on that I'm going to kill you right now. Isaac says okay, dad, kill me. Boy, Abraham deserves to be called a man of God. He brought up his children properly. Don't think God just selected somebody and allowed him to live as he liked and blessed him. He doesn't do that. See, I have chosen him so that he can command his children and keep the way of the Lord so that I can bring upon them all that he promised. Is it possible my brother, sister that you have missed so much God has for you? So much of the fire and the anointing God that I put in your life because you were so gentle with your children and allowed them to do all types of wrong things. Love them, encourage them but be firm when they play the fool with sin or when they are disobedient. That's prayer. Heavenly Father, we have all bungled up so much in our life. We have made mistakes, done stupid things. We have not studied your word carefully. We are so careless when it comes to your word. Forgive us. Help us, Lord, in the days to come to take your word more seriously that your name can be glorified through our lives and our homes. Help us. Have mercy upon us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.